Tekkaman: The Space Knight
}} is an anime produced by Tatsunoko Productions in 1975. A short-lived English adaptation aired in the US in 1984. The first 13 episodes streamed in Japanese with English subtitles on Anime Sols as of spring 2013 exclusively in North America, but the website is now defunct. As of 2016, all 26 episodes are streaming on Viewster in several countries. In the 1990s, it was followed by the much more popular ''Tekkaman Blade, which was dubbed in the U.S. by Saban as Teknoman. Plot The Earth has entered the 21st century and it is in peril. The “Green Earth” project has been abandoned and scientists look to the stars to find a “Second Earth.” The Space Angel, on its mission to find this “Second Earth,” is attacked by a group of aliens named the “Waldarians.” The Space Angel is destroyed and with it the hope of mankind. Dr. Amachi manages to create “Pegas” and the “Teksetter” system, designed to combat the aliens by augmenting a human with a certain wavelength into a Tekkaman, giving them enhanced strength abilities. Test pilots George Minami and Hiromi Amachi, along with Andro Umeda and Mutan, two alien beings from the planet Sanno, rid the dying Earth from the threat of the “Waldaster” and continue to research the “Leap Flight Engine” to reach a new home for humanity. Production The opening theme, “Tekkaman no Uta,” is sung by Ichirou Mizuki, written by Tatsunoko’s Planning Department (lyrics) and Asei Kobayashi (music) and arranged by Bob Sakuma, who composed all the music for the series. An English-language version was created by a small independent company called William Winckler Productions. However, the dub was cancelled in mid-story with only 13 of the show’s 26 episodes produced. Over forty-thousand original Tekkaman the Space Knight VHS video cassettes were successfully sold throughout the U.S. to major retail stores by Congress Video Group (the largest video distributor at the time), and later by L.D. Video. Congress Video sold half-hour episodes, whereas L.D. Video sold two 96-minute movie compilations. William Winckler attempted to stay as true to the original Japanese series as possible, with little editing of violence as possible, and retaining all the original Japanese music and sound effects. This was in stark contrast to Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, another Tatsunoko series which was dubbed by Sandy Frank as Battle of the Planets. English Cast *Bill Hedderly Jr. as Barry Gallagher / Tekkaman *Kathy Pruitt as Patricia Richardson / Mutan *Reginald Bennett as Andro *Clancy Syrko as Pegas / Randrox / Narrator *Jean Veloz as Mutan / Computer *Robert Winckler as Dr. Richardson / Emperor Devoral Japanese Cast *Katsuji Mori as George Minami/Tekkaman *Kan Tokumaru as Pegas *Junpei Takiguchi as Rambos *Kazue Komiya as Mutan *Kenji Utsumi as Chief Tenchi *Miyuki Ueda as Hiromi *Shinji Nakae as Narrator *Takeshi Kuwabara as Dovrai *Yasuo Yamada as Andro Umeda *Yuzuru Fujimoto as Jupiter Episode list Appearances in other media Tekkaman, Andro, and Dovrai appear in the PlayStation fighting game Tatsunoko Fight as playable fighters representing their series. Tekkaman reappears in both versions of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom with the Wii version also having Tekkaman Blade; Tekkaman's mini-game involves him throwing his Tek Lancer against a horde of Waldester fighters from the early part of series. Tekkaman also appears in the crossover anime series Infini-T Force co-produced by Tatsunoko and Digital Frontier which aired from October 3 to December 26, 2017. An anime film has been announced. See also * Tekkaman Blade References External links * *CDJAPAN DVD RELEASE * Tekkaman (Anime Mundi), detailed production information Category:1975 anime television series Category:Action anime and manga Category:Anime with original screenplays Category:Science fiction anime and manga Category:Animated space adventure television series Category:Superheroes in anime and manga Category:Animated superhero television series Category:Tatsunoko Production Category:TV Asahi shows